Paper-feeding apparatus.



M. B. FERGUSON. PAPER PEEMNG APMRATUS.

APPLIGATIO FILED 0GT.21.1909.

Patented Apr..7,'191lL 3 SHEETS-SHEET l.

@Vi/kwamen i y M. B. FERGUSON.

PAPER PEEDING APPARATUS.

APPLICATION FILED OUT. 21.1909.

Patented Apu?, 1914 M. BKFERGUSUN IAPBE FEEDING APPARATUS.

. 909, l APPLIGATION HLBD 00T 21 1 Patented Apr. 7, 19ML I q i s SHEETS-SHEET s.

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wv@ @ATNT r New YORK, N.

PACKAGE MILFORD B. FERGS F ONE-HALF TO CHUSETTS.

` MACHINERY R, BY MESNE ASSEGNMENTS,

Y., AssIeNo eoaPoRAfrroN or crassa ooMPANY, A

PAPER-FEEDING APPABATUS.

Application led October 21,

'Specification of Letters Patent.

T0 all 'whom it may concern lie it known that l, Mineola) B. FERGUSON, a citizen of the United States, residing at New York, in the county of Kings an State of `New York, have invented certain new and useful improvements in Paperlieeding Apparatus, -of wnich the following is a full, clear, and exact description.

.This invention relates to paper-feeding mechanism, for feeding 4'shects of paper singly from a stack and delivering the saine to a wrapping machine, printing press, or other' apparatus in which the paper is to be utilized.

Supplying paper Yby feeding the same from a roll and severing measured lengths tl'iercfrom at the proper intervals of time is comparatively simple, but feeding single sheets from a stack is a problem of a very di'il'l` ent order, the chief ditliculty encoun- 'ered being` the liability of the mechanism to occasionally to feed off two or three .sheets instead of always one sheet at a time.

The primary object of my present invention is to provide an apparatus which will feed off single sheets with the utmost certainty and that without tearing or creasing the paper in the operation.

A further object is to simplify the apparatus as much as possible and to make the operation such as will prevent the ldeterioration of the feeding' devices, thereby keeping the latter at all times in the best operative condition and insuring the desired certainty of operation. i

ln gene "al, my series of frictional invention comprises a feeding wheels or disks which at regulaintervals are raised against the bottom sheet of the stack. These feeding disks are driven by a mechanism constructed to give them a varying speed of rotation, and theoperation of the devices which effect the elevating of the disks against the pile of' sheets is so timed that at the instant of' initial contact with the undermost sheet the disks are revolving minimum velocity; this mode of operation insuring good frictional engagement with the sheet so that the same will immediately begin to move from off the stack. As the paper travels forward the speed. of the feeding disks is accelerated, therebyincreasing the speed of the paper, and immediately after the sheet is freed from the stack the i engagedisks are lowered out of operative speed is ment therewith, after which their decreased to the minimum.

lt will be apparent to those skilledin the art that the scheme thus briefly outlined can be embodied in various forms apparatus, and of these embodiments L have selected for specific description herein the form which at the present time is consid ered to exhibit the best mode of applviney the invention in practice. rThis form of the invention is illustrated in the annexed drawings, and referring now thereto,

Figure 1 shows the complete apparatus in side elevation. Fig. 2 is a top pian view of the saine. Fig. 3 .is a section on line. lll'll of Fig. l. Fig. l a detail sedtional view of the mechanism for driving the feeding disks with varying;v` speed, section being taken s bstantially on lil-Jill of l `ig.,1. Fig 5 and G views, diagrammatic in character, showing different positions of the feeding devices and the variable speed mechanism.

The stack of paper sheet frame composed of longitr and transverse cylindrical rods conned at the sides by vertical B and at the front by 'vertical front rit the rear each side-plate is smi an angle piece which is d, mounted on the vtransverse member the frame of the apparatus, said sie being thus adjustable to varv thev between them so as to accomm of ditl'erent sizes. it the front plate is connected to the adiacen plate by a connecting member 'i i an angle piece 8 on the fr front-plates themselves are porting rail cr bar 9, extending' machine and supported 'i machine by adjusting screv. plates are thus capabl ment so as to be accui position as to permitpaper under them and yet conn the st to its proper place on the bed-f vertical adjustment being` permitted the passage o" by the bolt connection of the plates Ywith the meml bers 7 and bv the )tand-bolt cenni. on il of the lai with ine s de plates, as wiil be readilj,r ui'idersteod.

Below the bedff with the, spaces between tlii porting rods 2 are four feeding shafts 12, 13, 14, 15, having driving gears 16, 17, 18, 19 respectively, meshing with connecting gears 20, 21, 22. On the first feeding shaft, 12, is a gear 23 meshing with a main driving gear 24 on the driving shaft 25, from which the entire train. is actuated. The shafts 12, 13, 14, are journaled in side frames 26, which are capable of vertical `reciprocation on the guide rods 27, 28. The feeding shafts carry feeding disks 29, faced with soft rubber or other suitable material affording good frictional engagement with the paper, and it will be seen that as theI supporting frames 26 are raised and lowered the feeding disks will berbrou ht into and out of contact with the un ermost sheet of the stack. Y This raising and lower\l ing of the frames is effected by means of suitable cams 29fL on the spindles which carry the connecting gears land 22, and by similar cams, not shown, at the opposite side of the machine, driven byisimilar gears 30, 317 meshing with driving gears 32, 33, on the shafts 13 and 15 respectively. The cams themselves bear on anti-friction rollers 34.

From the foregoing it will be seen that during a part of each rotation of the gears 20, 22, 30, 31, andfeeding disks 29; the feeding disks are raised into, contact with the` paper and during the remaining'v portion arelowered out of contact therewith. Since the feeding disks engage vthe paper during only a part of this revolution the wear on the disk-facings would bevuneven if the engagement were always on the same portion of the facings and the latter would therefore suffer rapid deterioration. This result is avoided, however, by so` proportioning the actuating gears that the disks will. make more or less than a complete revelution in each cycle of movement of the supporting side frames by which the disks are brought into engagementwith the paper, the result being that each engagement begins, on a fresh portion of the disk-facings, ask will be readily understood. In the present lembodiment this object is accomplished (except in the case of the first feeding gears, on shaft 12,) by giving the connecting gears 20, 21, 22, each one less tooth than the driving gears, 17, 18, 19, the result being that the shafts 13, 14, 15, and hence the feeding disks carried thereby, rotate at lower speed 4than'do the connecting gears,'which latter it will be remembered, effect the vertical movements of the side frames and feeding disks through the instrumentality ofthe cams 29a. The gear 23, however, which rotates shaft 12 and the feeding disks thereon, has a ratio of unity to the driving gear 24. so that this shaft and its feeding disks rotate at the saine rate as the driving sha ft 25; while the gear 16, rotating at the same rate, has the same fatio (unity) to the connecting gear 20, thereby causing the connecting 0'ears to revolve at the same rate as the driving shaft 25, an'd the driving gears ,movemnt of thesupporting'frames 26, and

hence the contact with the paperv will always begin at a different .point on the disk facings. It will be remembered, however, that the shaft 12 and its feeding disks revolve at the same rate as the driving shaft 25; that is, faster than the disks on the other feeding shafts. This difference of operation insures that the portion of the paper sheet between the vfirst and second series of disks will always be taut, since the tendency is to pull the forward part of such portion faster than the rear part; tearing being prevented by the fact that the forward disks can take only a comparatively light grip on the sheet, and hence will slip on the paper.

As previously stated, the feeding disks revolve atvarying speed, their rotation being slowest at the beginning` of their engagement with the paper and fastest as they are carried down and out of engagement. This operation is effected preferably by the mechanism now to be described, attention being` directed to Fig. 4.

On the end of the driving shaft 25 is a crank arm 36 having a crank pin 37 ex@ tendinginto a slot 38, in the adjacent face of an arm 39 fixedA on the end of a powerdriven shaft 40. The axis of the latter shaft is parallel to the axes of Shaft 25 and pin-37, but is so located as to lie between the two when all three are in the same `plane,and the pin 37 is in its nearest posi-- tion to shaft 40, as in Fig. 4. The rotation o'f the shaft 40 willof coursel impart rotary movement to the shaft 25 through the instrumentality of the crank 3G..- Assuming the parts to be in the position of Fig. 4, it will be secu that as the arm 39 revolves its point of engagement with thepcrank pin 37 will shift radially outward, as in Fig. 5, causing the crank 37 to revolve at a correspondingly increasing speed, until the arm 39 has turned half a revolution at which` time the pin 37 is at its maximum distance from the shaft 40 and hence is moving at maximum speed.A From this point the speed of the crank diminishes, since the pin is approaching the shaft 40 as in Fig. 6, until the position of Fig. 4 is again reached, when the speed of the crank is at its minimum.' The power driven shaft` 40 is stationarily mounted and as the shaft 253 is journaled in. the movable frame it will be obvious that there will be a movement of the axis of the driving shaft relative to the axis of the 12ov A the adjacent sheet.

power shaft in the operation of the machine. As shown in Fig. l, the pin 37 is nearest the shaft- 40 when the crank 8G is at its lowest position; hence the cams 29a .are so designed and arranged that at this position of the crank the frames 26 will bring the feeding disks into contact with the paper. The speed of the driving shaft is now increasing and hence the disks revolve with increasing speed, up to the maximum, at which points the cams allow the frames 'to descend and carry the disks out of engagement with the paper; At this time, however, the sheet reaches the cooperating conveying belts 4l, 42, and, beine` seized between the same, is carried swiftly away tothe point of utilization. The lower belts run over two puileys 43 (only one of which is shown) fixed to a shaft 44, the latter being driven by a pinion 45 in mesh with a gear 46 on the power shaft 40. The upper belts run over idle pulleys 47 mounted on a shaft 48 which is capable of vertical movement in its bearings 49. Connected to the ends of this shaft are two downwardly acting springs 50, serving to give the upper belts a strong downward pressure and thus insure-a firm engagement of the upper and lower belts or conveyers with the paper sheet.

Under the rear end ofthe stack of sheets is a bar 5l, adjustable toward the, front and rear, according to the size of the paper sheets` carrying needles or slender knives 52 which pierce the bottom sheet or sheets near the rear edge thereof. As the bottom sheet is fed forward it is slit or torn by the needles; but the friction of the bottom sheet on the second is not sutlicient to overcome both the resistance of this second sheet to heilig torn by the needles, and its friction on the third sheet, and hence only the bottom sheet will be moved forward by the feeding disks.y The needles are preferably inclined rearwardly, as shown in F l, as in this position they tend to separate the bottom sheet from the one next above. This is due to the fact that as the bottom sheet starts it slides down toward the base of the needles, thereby pulling itself away from At the same time the downwardly moving sheet forces down and away from t-he points of the needles any portions of paper that may tend to accumulate, thereby keeping the points free and clear.

The operation of the machine having been described in connection with the mechanism further description of the operation is deemed unnecessary. Suflice it to say that' extensive practical use of the apparatus has demonstrated its effectiveness, the paper being fed one sheet at a time with certainty and precision. At this point it may be stated that in using the machine with sheets -of paper so short that before the feeding disks are lowered the next sheet above the bottom will be exposed to and therefore be engaged by the last series of disks the latter may be made idle by omitting the last driving gear, 19. y

It is to be understood, of course, that the invention is notl limited to the precise-construction herein shown and described, but is capable of embodiment in various forms without departure from its proper spirit and scope as defined by the appended claims.

lVhat I claim is:

l. In a paper-feeding apparatus` in combination, a supportl for a stack of paper sheets, feeding disks below the support,l

means for raising and lowering the Idisks to carry the same int-o contact with the paper a given number of times in a given period of time, and driving mechanism for' the feeding disks, constructed to rotate the disks a different number of times in the same period, whereby each contact with the paper will begin at a ditt'erent point on the disks. i

2. In ,an apparatus for feeding paper. in combination. a support for a stack of paper sheet-s, feeding disks below the support.v means for raising and lowering the disks to carry the same into and out of contact with the paper at a given rate, means for rotat ing the disks at a di'tl'erent rate, and means givingthe disks a minimum speed of rotation at the beginning of each contact and increasing to a maximum at the end of cach contact.

3. In a paper-feeding apparatus, in combination, a support for a stack of paper sheets, feeding disks below. the support, means for raising and lowering the disks to carry the same into and out of contact with the paper, mechanism for rotating the disks,

and one or more upwardly extending rearwardly inclined needles arranged to engage the bottom of the stack at the rear thereof.

4. In a paper-feeding apparatus, in combination, a support for a stack of paper sheets, a pair of vertically movable sideframes below the support, a driving shaft and transverse feeding shafts journaied in the side-frames the latter carrying feeding disks, gearing` arranged on the driving shaft to drive the feeding shafts, and means actuated by the gearing ior raising and lowering the side-frames to carry the feeding disks into and out of contact with the bottom sheet of the stack.

5. In a paper-feeding apparatus, in combination, a support for a stack of paper. sheets, driving mechanism and yfeeding disks below the support,lmeans for raising and lowering the driving mechanism and disksto carry the latter into and out of contact with the bottom sheet of the stack, a train of gears arranged to rotate the feeding disks and actuate the raising and'lowering means, the driving mechanismiconstructed to drive the gear-train at a speed increasing from the minimum at the beginning of the ontact of the disks with' the paper to the inaximum by the time the disks are withdrawn from Contact.

G. In a paper-feeding apparatus, in combination, a support for a stack of paper sheets, a pair of vertically movable 'sideframes below the support, transverse feeding shafts journaled in the side-frames and carrying feeding disks, driving gears on the shafts', connectino' gears meshing with the driving gears, and cams located at both ends of the side frames and actuated by the conf necting gears vfor raising and lowering the side frames to carry theI feeding disks into and out of Contact with the paper.

7. In a paper-feeding apparatus, -in combination, 'transverse feeding shafts carrying feeding disks; a gear-train arranged to rotate the shafts; a driving lgear associated with the train to actuate the same a driving shaft having a gear in mesh with the 'driving .gear and having acrank provided with a crankpin; and a power shaft adjacent to the driving shaft and having aslotted arm engaging the crank-pin to revolve the crank.

and its shaft.`

8. In a paper-feeding, apparatus, in conibination, a support for a stack ofpaper sheets; feeding disks below the same g mechanism, including rotary cams,.'forl raising and lowering the feeding vdisks tocarry the same into and out of contact with the bottom sheet of the stack; a driving gear; and a gear-train connected with the driving gear for rotating the cams and the feeding disks,

.constructed to rotate the cams at the saine 10.' In apaper feeding apparatus, in coinlbination, a support for a stack of paper sheets, a pair of vertically movable side frames below the support, transverse feeding shafts journa'led in theside-frames and carrying feeding disks, driving gears on the shafts, connecting gears meshing" with the driving gears, guides located at the end s of the sideframes, and means actuated by the connecting gears to raise and lower the side frames.

In testimony whereof I amx my signature in the presence of two subscribing witnesses;`

Y MILFO'RD B. FERGUSON. Vitness'es:

' M. Lawson DYER,

S. S. DUNHAM.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for ve cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of, atents,

Washington, D. C. 

